“He was my guitar buddy growing up”: Tracii Guns reveals how it felt to have childhood friend Slash replaced him in Guns N’ Roses
Before the iconic top hat, snarling riffs and Appetite For Destruction, there was Tracii Guns. A founding member of Guns N’ Roses, Guns helped shape the band’s earliest incarnation before stepping away and ultimately being replaced by none other than his childhood friend, Slash.
In a new interview with Guitar Player, the guitarist reflects on the decision and shares why, despite what fans might assume, he has no “regrets” – both personally and professionally – even after all these years.
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Speaking about his friendship with Slash, in particular, Guns says, “When I left, I knew Slash was going to be the guy because he was in Hollywood Rose. It was the right thing to do. He was my guitar buddy growing up, since we were 11 years old. Him coming in was just going to happen.”
Rather than dwell on what could have been, Guns quickly turned his focus to L.A. Guns, a move that soon paid off.
“So I left and reformed L.A. Guns, and it was the greatest thing because everything that we did leading up to the signing of Guns N’ Roses led to the signing of L.A. Guns six months later.”
The musician also downplays any personal fallout from the lineup shift, saying “the only two people that argued for the next three months were Axl and me, and then we were fine.”
Despite Guns N’ Roses meteoric rise to fame soon after his departure, Guns insists he has no regrets walking away as “they were awesome with Slash.”
“How could I have regret when half the band’s name is my name? I’m arguably their biggest fan of all time,” he adds.
Recalling the moment he first heard Appetite for Destruction, sent to him on cassette by Geffen while he was mixing the debut L.A. Guns album, Guns says, “I went and listened to it by myself in Studio A, and I was like, ‘Fuck, this is so good.’ I got the other guys and told them, ‘You guys gotta listen to this.’ I loved It’s So Easy. I never heard that song before, and I was like, ‘Goddamn, that’s fucking cool.’”
“I’m listening to it with the guys, and they pretended they didn’t get it, but I told them, ‘No, no, no. This is fucking awesome.’ They didn’t believe in it, but I did.”
He continues, “Based on that success, I knew it was a clear channel for L.A. Guns, because to me, Guns N’ Roses is what broke us all away from Mötley Crüe and Ratt and a lot of the other stuff that we didn’t want to be lumped with in. The only way to have success is to not be like somebody else.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
